


News of the World: Live

by Manuscriptor



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Agnes is Queer, Don't @ Me, Fix-It, Gen, Queen: Live, Queerplatonic Relationships, they just need to spend some time together without the pressure of the apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-04
Updated: 2019-03-04
Packaged: 2019-11-09 04:51:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17995202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Manuscriptor/pseuds/Manuscriptor
Summary: Hazel and Agnes finish her list of places across America that she wanted to visit. They decide to go back in time to see Queen live.





	News of the World: Live

**Author's Note:**

  * For [deferred_momentum](https://archiveofourown.org/users/deferred_momentum/gifts).



“Is there anywhere else you want to go?” Hazel asked as he watched Agnes place a neat check mark in the corner of the last page of her bird-watchers book.

They had saved the easiest one for last ironically. The brilliant red cardinal of Northern America. They waited until the end of the year and then bundled up and travelled to the Midwest, the northern part of Wisconsin. They had watched the cardinals perch in the snow-covered branches all day, drawn to the area by the bird seed the scattered across the top of the snow. They looked like droplets of blood but so, so much prettier.

Hazel would know.

Now, the sun was starting to sink and Agnes was starting to shiver even though she would never admit to being cold. Hazel noticed of course and knew they would have to head back to their motel room soon.

Agnes closed her book with a contented sigh and watched the last cardinal flit away, leaving the branched finally bare. She ran her fingers over the wrinkled and worn pages, evidence of how often it was used and just how much it was loved. She tucked it carefully into her shoulder bag and turned to Hazel.

“You know, I don’t know,” she said, finally getting around to answering his question. “I never thought I’d be able to do all this. In all honesty, I never thought my dream list would be _too_ short.” She laughed. “I thought it was plenty long before, but now we’ve run out of things to do!”

Hazel couldn’t help but smile along. Because he understood. Planning for a future that didn’t or couldn’t exist? It was unheard of. He usually lived from moment to moment, nowhere else because nowhere else mattered. But now that he had Agnes, somewhere else did matter, and he had to admit, it felt nice to watch another person smile because of something he had done.

“Do _you_ have anything you want to do?” Agnes suddenly asked, turning and starting the long walk back to the car.

Hazel moved to follow her, linking his arm with hers so that neither of them would trip in the snow.

“You didn’t answer the question,” Agnes pressed when he remained silent. “You think I won’t notice, but I always do. Do you have anything you want to do, Hazel? This whole trip has been places that _I_ want to go. What about you?”

“I’m fine with that,” Hazel said. He should know better by now than to try to avoid Agnes’s questions. “I like all the places you’ve chosen. The bird watching. The cafes. And you know? A couple of the bakeries we found actually did have decent vegan donuts.”

Agnes laughed and playfully swatted his arm. “You still haven’t answered!”

Hazel sighed but smiled, knowing there was no way of getting out of this question.

“Let me think,” he said just so that they would have a chance to just walk in silence, arm in arm. It was a flimsy excuse, but Agnes seemed satisfied so they continued walking.

They followed the same path they had used to get so far into the woods, so they could put their feet in the footprints they had left before. There were a couple times that they had to step over roots or go around trees that hadn’t been in the way before but were now. They had left the car parked on the side of the old country road. Hazel had pulled halfway into the ditch even though they hadn’t encountered another car in miles.

Hazel helped Agnes over the snowbanks and back onto more solid ground, taking her bag for her and putting it in the back seat while she climbed into the passenger side. He took a moment to check the trunk of the car for the oh-so-valuable briefcase, one of the few surviving ones left. He protected it with his life. He brushed clumps of snow off his pants for an excuse and then took his usual spot behind the wheel.

“You still haven’t answered the question,” Agnes reminded, pulling her gloves off and blowing on her hands to warm them up.

Hazel twisted the key and turned the heat up high to warm them both up. “I’m still thinking,” he said with a smile. He checked his mirrors to make sure everything was clear and then pulled out into the road.

“You’ve done so much for me and can’t even think of _one_ thing that you want to do for yourself,” Agnes chided. “ _Hazel_.”

“I’m _thinking_ ,” Hazel said. “We went on this trip for you. Not for me.” He paused, staring out the windshield at the untouched winter wonderland that had survived the end of the world. Still peaceful and still beautiful. “I never thought we’d get this far either.”

“Well,” Agnes said, smoothing down the front of her coat and then reaching for the radio. “How about some music to help you think?”

She skimmed the stations a bit but seemed to know exactly where she was going because she settled on one quickly and turned up the volume, already humming along with the song that was playing. She closed her eyes and leaned back in her seat, smiling faintly as the familiar voices and music of a very familiar band filled the car. “Somebody to Love.” How accurate.

Hazel almost laughed at her choice. He would have too if he wasn’t tapping his finger to the drums immediately. He couldn’t help it.

“Queen?” he said. “I never would have guessed you liked classic rock.”

Agnes only laughed. “What? A girl can’t like the music of her time?”

Hazel laughed then because Agnes was swaying back and forth in her seat, clapping her hands along with the drums too now.

“Music of your time, huh?” Hazel repeated. They had left the forest now but were still far into the country. They wouldn’t run into anyone else for a while.

Agnes nodded and then seemed embarrassed when she realized he was watching her. She brushed her hair out of her eyes and settled down in her seat, pulling off her winter hat and wringing it in her hands.

“Of course,” she said. “All of the girls in my class had a crush on Freddie.” She laughed. “And some of the boys too. Everyone knew who Queen was.”

“Did you ever see them?” Hazel asked, glad that the conversation was no longer about him.

Agnes nodded, staring dreamily out the window as the song ended and changed to another classic rock band. She turned them down though, obviously not deeming them as important as Queen was.

“Once,” she said and sighed as if she were remembering the moment now. “My friends and I went when they were in America. Gosh, we were young back then. Couldn’t smoke. Couldn’t drink.” She laughed. “I’m surprised security even let us in! We probably looked like children with our fake IDs and our attempts at dressing up like adults.”

Hazel smiled because he could picture it easy.

Agnes, young and full of spitfire with her dreams and aspirations, dressing up and printing out a fake ID along with concert tickets to go to a concert with her friends. The whole scheme had probably been her idea too. Hazel could imagine her convincing all her friends to come with her, sneaking in to see Queen and Freddie and swooning along with everyone else in the crowd.  

They were still out in the country and even though they were driving through rolling hills with very little cover, Hazel figured that no one would notice or care if a portal was opened up and they took a small trip through time.

He pulled the car over for a second time that day, much to Agnes’s confusion.

“What are you doing?” she asked as he undid his seatbelt. “We haven’t gone anywhere. We should get back to our motel room. Get something hot to drink.”

Hazel reached across the seats and grabbed her hand, linking their fingers easily. He smiled and Agnes smiled along with him even though she didn’t even know what was going on.

“Do you want to see Queen again?” he offered.

Agnes laughed. “Is this another one of your time travel things?” she asked.

Hazel didn’t know why she always laughed when he talked about the details of his old job. She had seen everything. Maybe she didn’t understand everything but she had seen it and knew it existed and knew that Hazel had a briefcase that could do everything that she had seen.

Hazel nodded. “Yes,” he said. “Come on. You wouldn’t have to sneak in this time. You could actually buy alcohol. I bet Freddie would love to see an old fan too!”

Agnes was blushing again, just as embarrassed as before. “Oh, Hazel, I doubt he would remember me. He had hundreds of fans. I was just another American girl who loved his music.”

“Exactly,” Hazel said, reaching down to undo her seatbelt for her. “You love his music. Come on. Let’s go see him live. You know I can do it and that it is no big deal.” When Agnes still looked hesitant, he added, “We’ve run out of birds to find and we don’t have any better ideas.”

Agnes threw her hand in the air with a laugh. “Oh, fine!” She was smiling from ear to ear though, beaming wider than Hazel had seen in a while. “Let’s go see Freddie!”

Hazel let her hand go and climbed out of the car quickly, hurrying around to the trunk and pulling out the briefcase. Agnes climbed out of her seat and followed him to the back.

“I don’t think we can go in winter clothes though,” she said. “It seems inappropriate for a Queen concert.”

“I’ll save us some time to get ready,” Hazel said, putting the date and year into the combination lock. “There’s no better way to look the part then to get authentic clothes from the time.”

Agnes was clapping her hands excitedly then, still beaming. “This is exciting!” she said. “I never thought I’d get a chance like this again!”

Hazel double checked the date he had chosen, just so that they wouldn’t jump anywhere ridiculous and then offered his arm to Agnes with a smile of his own.

“Ready?”

Agnes looped their arms together and hugged him tight. “Always,” she said.

Hazel nodded and tugged her a bit closer just because he could and then opened the briefcase, the flash of light consuming them before they had a chance to overthink the plan.

They stepped into the streets of Detroit, Michigan still arm in arm. Hazel was still holding the briefcase in his other hand, and while the sky was dark above them, the lights from the downtown made everything bright. Agnes’s eyes were shining as she took everything in, still clutching Hazel’s arm tight. She was steady on her feet, pretty good for her first time jumping.

“It’s beautiful,” she said softly, looking up at all the lights and the stars beyond that.

“Come on,” Hazel said, tugging her in the direction that he saw a sign for a clothing store. “Let’s get something to wear.”

The store they had chosen was absolutely brimming with 70s fashion and everything looked perfect for a Queen sort of concert. All the colors and patterns and sequins were almost overwhelming. Almost. Hazel immediately pulled Agnes over to a rack of dressed, pulling down a shimmery one.

“Here,” he said, holding it up to her to see if he had chosen the size right. “You should wear this.”

Agnes gasped as if she were scandalized. “Hazel! The neckline is so low. I could never!”

“It would look perfect though,” he said, trying to put the hanger into her hands. “Come on, Agnes. It’s one night. We’re going to see _Queen_. We deserve to look like disco legends.”

“ _Deacon_ is the disco legend,” Agnes said but she took the dress anyway and folded it over her arm. “But if I’m wearing this, then you are wearing this.” She reached up and pulled off another outfit that had Hazel laughing.

He had forgotten that bell bottoms were a thing in the seventies.

He took it anyway because he knew it would make Agnes laugh too.

“Alright, dressing rooms and we show each other?” he said.

Agnes’s eyes were shining with excitement and she still hadn’t stopped smiling since they had gotten here. “Yes!” she said.

They found the dressing rooms easily and went their separate ways, both promising to show the other the outfit they had chosen no matter how ridiculous it looked.

Hazel changed quickly, almost laughing himself silly as he pulled on the horrific black-sequined bell bottoms and the white suit coat that had come with them. He also had on a dress shirt and a buttoned up vest. It was an odd combination of prom formal and disco dancing. True to his word though, he kept it on and stepped out of the small dressing room to show Agnes.

She wasn’t ready yet, so he waited in front of the rooms, getting looks from passing customers. Hazel didn’t really care. He and Agnes wouldn’t even exist in this time period in a couple hours. A couple people thinking he looked weird didn’t matter.

“Oh, Hazel, I don’t think this looks good at all,” Agnes said from inside her stall.

“You promised to show me,” Hazel coaxed. “We both look ridiculous, trust me. We can look ridiculous together.”

“If you say so,” Agnes said and then, after a short moment, she pushed open the door and stepped out into the open.

The neckline wasn’t as bad as Agnes made it sound. It had sleeves that flared wide and hung around the elbows, and the thick stripes of bold blue, red, yellow, and white, made the dress look like a block of color. The skirt flowed around Agnes’s legs, fluid and beautiful just like she was. It had looked gaudy and bright on the hanger, but on her it just looked right.

“I told you,” Agnes said, giving Hazel a turn, cheeks pink as she showed off the garment. “Ridiculous.”

“Are you kidding?” Hazel said and gestured to himself. “ _I_ look ridiculous. You picked something with sequins.”

“Stripes aren’t flattering,” Agnes said with a laugh, but she was touching the dress like she was in awe and Hazel knew it was the one.

“I think we look amazing,” he said, grabbing his clothes from where he had slung them over the door of his dressing room. “Come on. We look perfect.”

Agnes laughed but she didn’t protest the words. They linked arms again and walked out of the store with a confidence that only time travelers could have. The store wouldn’t miss two outfits and they had a Queen concert to catch.

They strolled down the streets of Detroit and laughed at their inside jokes, the fact that they were walking in a time that was supposed to be impossible. They were flushed with happiness by the time they got to the front doors of the Cobo Hall. Hazel passed the ticket booth several bills and then they had their tickets and they were inside.

Agnes looked absolutely star struck, clinging tightly to Hazel’s arm and laughing at anything and everything.

“I can’t believe it,” she whispered even though they didn’t have to be quiet. “Hazel! I can’t believe it!”

Hazel laughed and then pointed to the small bar that the place was currently providing. It was surrounded by a crowd of obviously-under aged high schoolers who had the balls to actually attempt to use their fake IDs in hopes of tricking the bartender. By the looks of it though, not many had succeeded.

“Oh!” Agnes said with a small squeak. “Hazel, I can’t believe this.”

Hazel tugged her along. “Come on,” he said. “A perfect night needs perfect drinks.”

They got their drinks without a problem, earning many envious looks from the unsuccessful teens. They sipped from their glasses as they made their way to the main performance area.

Most of the usual seating had been cleared out in preparation for coming performance and a majority of the crowd was milling around, waiting for the band to take the stage. A dozen or so stage hands were rushing back and forth, rattling off fast sentences into their headsets as they prepared the area for the performance.

Hazel and Agnes finished their drinks quickly and found a spot to leave their glasses. And then Agnes was pulling Hazel into the crowd, talking about good seats and how they needed to be as close as possible. They were still quite a ways from the stage when the lights suddenly dimmed and several figures walked out from the backstage and into position.

The crowd was screaming before they even made a noise.

The spot light snapped on and suddenly there was the legend himself.

Freddie.

Iconic.

His outfit was as wild as theirs and he looked untouchable from up on stage, sequins and all.

He fiddled with his mic for a moment and then pulled it in half, whipping the chord to the side so that it wouldn’t tangle around his legs. He looked out over the crowd with a piercing gaze, like he owned the place and knew it. There was a moment of dead silence, as the crowd held its breath, waiting for the first words.

“Hello, Detroit!” Freddie called into the mic, and the crowd was screaming all over again, hands reaching up to grab at the ceiling as feet stomped and hips swung.

Hazel and Agnes put their hands in the air like everyone else and screamed too, reaching out towards a rock god that was in the flesh right in front of them, laughing with the impossibleness of the situation.

“Are you happy to see me?” Freddie asked.

The crowd howled their approval.

Freddie whipped the chord around himself and prowled across the stage, taking a moment comb his hair back from his eyes and toss it over his shoulder. “Tell me how much you love me!” he called. “Tell me how much you want to hear Queen!”

The crowd surged forward with even louder screams, and Hazel and Agnes were taken with them, clutching each other’s hands so they didn’t get separated. They were closer to the stage now, close enough to see the sheen of sweat that already coated Freddie’s forehead and the stitching on his costume.

Freddie whooped into the microphone and Brian ripped a playful chord on his electric guitar, and Hazel had never felt more alive than the moment when Freddie say the first opening lines to Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy. And the moment Roger picked up the beat with his drums and Deacon started plucking out the base with his guitar, Hazel wondered why they hadn’t done this sooner.

“Closer!” Agnes yelled at him, barely able to make herself heard over the music and the screams of the crowd.

“What?” Hazel asked, leaning down so that her mouth was next to his ear.

Agnes was laughing and pulling him forward, closer to the stage where the more chaotic fans were gathered. “Closer!” she yelled again. “We need to get closer!”

Hazel was most definitely not used to such chaotic concerts, but who was he to say no to Agnes? He let himself be pulled forward until he and Agnes were in the thick of the fans, bodies crushed together and out of breath as the energy from the crowd overwhelmed them.

Freddie was dancing across the stage, playfully crooning in Brian’s ear as he plucked out the different notes. His long hair almost hid the smile he had at Freddie’s antics. Almost, but not quite.

To Hazel’s surprise, Agnes sang all the lyrics right along with Freddie, matching him word for word until the very end of the song. Hazel didn’t know it was possible to be so in love.

Freddie returned back to the center of the stage as the last notes of the song faded out, and Brian stepped up with him, to a microphone of his own. They went straight into the next so with no preamble, Brian and Freddie crooning the lyrics of the slower song together. “You’re my Best Friend.” And every person, every person in the crowd hundreds strong, sang right along with him.

That song had barely ended before Freddie was stomping around the stage, and the crowd was going absolutely crazy.

Stomp. Stomp. Clap.

Stomp. Stomp. Clap.

No instruments were even needed as the crowd picked up on the beat and replicated in until the entire building was shaking from the dancing. Brian ripped into his guitar and Freddie raised his fist in the ceiling and everyone screamed the lyrics together, everyone challenging something different with the promise of we will rock you, spitting the words with such venom and passion.

Agnes was right along with them, pumping her fist in the air along with Freddie.

Hazel matched her word for word, his heart racing with the challenge and energy.

The attention of the crowd shifted as the spotlights moved around, just as Brian shifted chords into a new song. Freddie stepped into the back for the first time as a new spotlight shone on Roger, still behind his drums but now crooning over a microphone of his own and caressing it as if it were a lover.

Agnes was laughing like it was the funniest thing but sang right along anyway, pledging her love to Roger’s car as if she knew exactly what he was talking about. Caressing pistons and wheels. Abandoning girlfriends and riding off into the sunset.

Brian was all but laughing at his guitar but dutifully played along, letting Roger have his moment. Deacon pulled the base that kept the song pumping, until it faded out at the end, but the energy didn’t die. Brian kept up the riffs and Roger, almost reluctantly, push the mic away and returned to his drums, picking a new beat back up.

And Freddie was back in the spotlight where he belonged, playing to the crowd like only he could. He tilted his head back and threw his arms wide, as if embracing the entire crowd at once.

“I love you, Detroit!” he yelled into the mic.

And Detroit yelled their love for him right back.

And Hazel and Agnes were right there, yelling alongside everyone else.

The concert then blurred into one gigantic chaotic song as Freddie sang his way through their usual set, continuing to flirt with the crowd and his bandmates as he danced across the stage, whipped his sweaty hair back and forth, and sang with his entire heart.

Before Hazel knew what was happening, the concert was over and the crowd was reluctantly dissipating, some rushing out the doors quickly to see if they could catch the band before they boarded their bus, some returning to the bar to get drinks after such an exhausting performance.

Hazel and Agnes staggered back out into the night, hand in hand and laughing at each other and themselves.

“I can’t believe it!” Agnes said. “I can’t believe I just saw _Freddie Mercury_.”

“I can’t believe I saw Freddie Mercury _live_ ,” Hazel said. He gave Agnes’s hand a squeeze. “I can’t believe _you_. You knew all the songs as well as he did!”

Agnes blushed and looked down at her shoes as they walked. “Everyone knows Freddie’s songs,” she said. “He’s a godsend to those of us who . . . don’t quite fit. Everyone who didn’t fit knew his songs.”

Hazel raised an eyebrow. “You? Not fitting?”

Agnes giggled and now it was her turn to squeeze his hand. “Gay,” she said and then seemed to catch herself. “Bi. Bisexual. Freddie showed us that it didn’t matter who you loved. The rest of us who . . . weren’t quite sure who we loved either.”

“I see,” Hazel said with a smile, swinging their hands a bit more as they walked.

“I love you,” Agnes said, looking up at him with a smile and flushed cheeks. “I know that now. I knew it before too, but now. . . . I don’t know. I just . . . I love you.”

Hazel laughed. “Freddie has that effect, I think,” he said. “Because I love you too.”

Agnes laughed and swatted his arm. “I can’t believe you sometimes,” she said. “We’ve been all over America. You’ve taken me to see Queen, _live_ might I add. You’ve done so much and I think that’s the first time I’ve heard you say those words.”

Hazel felt his own cheeks go hot now, because he hadn’t realized that he had never said it.

“I would have said it earlier,” he said quickly. “I just—”

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Agnes reassured. She was back to looking at the stars, trusting Hazel to keep them on the right path so that they wouldn’t run into anything. “There’s no pressure to say it. I knew. You knew. It was something unsaid.”

Hazel smiled. He like it that way. Things unsaid but still understood.

He remembered the suitcase that he still had clutched tightly in his hand. He had somehow managed to avoid losing it even in the chaos of the concert. A miracle really.

“We’ve got to go back eventually,” he said, wanting to remind Agnes that they were out of their time and still had a home to return to.

Agnes sighed. “A couple more hours?” she asked. “Just a little bit more. I don’t want this night to end.”

Hazel smiled. “It won’t, even if we go back home.”

“Oh, I _know_ , but being in Detroit is special,” Agnes said with a dreamy sigh. “But there’s magic in this place. I don’t want to leave it just yet.”

“That’s fine,” Hazel said. “A couple more hours won’t kill us. Is there anything else you’d like to do?”

Agnes laughed. “There you go again,” she said. “What do _I_ want to do? Hazel, what do _you_ want to do?”

Hazel had an answer now. He had had plenty of time to think about it and after this entire trip, it finally made sense. And he didn’t feel ridiculous for saying it. Because he was wearing bell bottoms and had just seen Freddie live and had been with the one he loved the entire time.

“Anything you want to do,” he said. “Anything you want to do, Agnes.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on tumblr @manuscript-or


End file.
